Method of making feather fabric



Nov. 23, 1943. E. HULVEY METHOD OF MAKING FEATHER FABRIC Filed Aug. 16, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor A ttowzey Nov. 23, 1943. E'. HULVEY METHOD OF MAKING FEATHER FABRIC 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 16, 1941 Attorney Patented Nov. 23, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD F MAKING FEATHER FABRIC Evelyn Hulvey, Mount Crawford, Va.

Application August 16, 1941, Serial No. 407,203

l('Cl. 2--278) 3 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in methods of making a fabric composed of feathers, and the primary object of my invention is to provide for the economical production of such fabric in a structurally strong and durable form.

Other important objects and. advantages of my invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description and the appended drawings wherein for illustration purposes a preferred embodiment of my invention is shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a feather, such as a turkey feather and showing the approximate line on which the base portion of the feather is cut in the first step of my method.` Figure 2 is transverse vertical sectional view taken through Figure land showing the quill of the feather in uncrushed, normal condition.

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the quill crushed flat in the .plane of the feather in the second step of the method.

Figure 4 is an edge elevational view of the feather resulting from the third step of the method wherein the flattened quill is alternately bent in opposite directions at substantially equal intervals along the length of the quill.

Figure 5 is a plan diagrammatic View showing a feather fabric involving a completely prepared feather applied to backing cloth and sewn thereto and several other feathers sewn thereto but with the barbs of the other feathers removed for clarity of illustration, the feathers having their quills aligned in rows in and to end fashion, the rows being spaced apart at such distances as to cause the barbs of the feathers to overlap in end to end and side to side manner.

Figure 6 is a reverse view of Figure 5 showing the appearance of the sewing at that side of the cloth fabric.

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional View taken through Figure 5 along the line '1 -1, and illustrating the aligning and sewing steps of the method wherein the thread is passed from side to side through the flattened quills of the aligned feathers.

Figure 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail showing the position in which the cloth is held for the sewing operation.

Figure 9 is a plan view intended to represent the face of a feather fabric characterized by small fine feathers affording a more regular and continuous surface.

Figure 10 is a plan view of the face of a feather fabric formed of coarser and larger feathers with the base portions cut straight across as indicated in Figures 1 and 11 and with the tip portions relatively bluntly rounded by cutting them off in the desired shape.

Figure 11 is a plan view of a feather having the blunt rounded tip portion and showing the line at the base portion on which the straight cut across may be made.

Figure 12 is a schematic plan View of a feather fabric like that shown in Figure l0, and wherein the individual feathers are sewn to the cloth in relatively widely spaced rows in end over end and side over side overlapping relation.

Figure 13 is a similar view of another feather fabric in which the individual feathers are sewn to the cloth in more closely spaced rows in which the feathers are aligned but are alternately spaced longitudinally.

Figure 14 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken along the line I4-l4 of Figure 12 and dshowing the manner in which the quills of the aligned and overlapping feathers are associated and sewed to the cloth.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 5 generally designates the cloth constituting the base of the feather fabric, and which may be any material suitable for the making of the dress or wrap intended. Rolls or bolts of such cloth may be utilized to form sheets or loose rolls of my feather fabric in form ready for cutting to the desired patterns; or the pattern cut pieces of cloth may be converted into feather fabric by the method disclosed herein.

Feathers 6 of the desired kind, size, and color, either uniform or variegated or contrasting in color and markings are selected after the cloth 5 is ready. The feathers are then trimmed with a scissors or other suitable means by cutting them straight across their base portions on the line 1 in the type shown in Figure 1, leaving the tips 8 in substantially natural form. Or the type feather Sa, shown in Figure 11, of the drawings may be provided by bluntly and curvedly trimming the tip portion as at 8a, and either leaving the base portion 9a uncut `or cut straight across on the line 1a, the quills I0, llla being also cut in the operation.

The desired feathers having been trimmed as wanted, the quills are flattened in the main plane of the feathers by crushing the quills with a suitably imposed force, following which the quills are bent and crushed alternately up and down at substantially equally spaced longitudinal intervals to provide the flat exible bends ll illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawings. This provides not only the desired flattening of the quill the quill and the needle bearing the thread l2 is passed through the cloth from siderto side so as to enter one flattened edge of the quill and pass out at the opposite flattened edge of the quill, as shown in Figures 'l and 8 of the drawings, and pass again through the cloth. The needle is then carried under the cloth underlying the quill and again passes through the cloth and the first mentioned edge of the quill until the desired number of longitudinally spaced stitches i3 have been formed which appear as diagonal at the back or wrong side of the cloth as shown in Figure 6.

Where rows are to be composed of several substantially overlapping feathers, the quills are arranged with respect to each other and to the cloth 5 as shown in Figure 14 of the drawings, the groups of stitches I3 in the case of each feather being directly passed through the cloth, and the cloth being allowed to conform to the stepped arrangement of the butt ends of the quills as shown.

The fluffy small-feathered fabric i4 shown in Figure 9 may have its feathers arranged` and connected to its cloth backing by the described form of sewing and in any of the overlapping and aligned relationships shown and described herein. The feather fabrics lila, lh and lilc shown in Figures 10, 12 and l3 respectively, of the drawings are characterized by the larger, more robust type of feathers aligned in rows with their sides and ends overlapping as already indicated, the lateral overlap being preferably as far as just beyond the middle of the laterally adjacent f eathers so that the quills are hidden from view. The feather fabrics of Figures 10, 12 and 1'3, by the blunt curved tip portions which are free edges and project outwardly, afford uniformity of appearance Where the'same types andcolors of feathers are employed and at the same time afford regularity of design where contrasting feathers are employed, thereby enabling the provision of wanted areas of sameness or of variety in appearance.

It will be noted that in most instances the stitches I3 involve only the base portions of the quills so that the remainder of the quill is free from the backing cloth. However, where the tip portions of the quills of feathers are to be joined in overlapping relation to base portions of quills of feathers aligned in a row, this arrangement is necessarily altered, and if desired the stitches may extend along substantially the entire length of the quills.

Although I have set forth herein preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not wish to lirnit my invention thereto as described and shown, except as may be required by the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new isl. The method of making aV feather fabric which consists in laying feathers longitudinally in rows on a cloth backing with the barbs of the laterally adjacent feathers overlapping andsewing the feathers in place by passing stitches through the cloth and laterally through the quills of the feathers, said quills having rst been attened by crushing.

2. The method of making` a feather fabric which consistsin laying feathers longitudinally in rows on a cloth backing with the'barbs of the laterally adjacent feathers overlapping and sewing the feathers in place by passing stitches through the cloth and laterally through the quills of the feathers, said quills having first been flattened by crushing and bent alternately upwardly and downwardly at longitudinally spaced points.

3. The method of making a feather fabric which consists of laying feathers longitudinally in rows on a cloth backing with the barbs of the laterally adjacent feathers overlapping and Vsewing the feathers in place by passing stitches through the cloth and laterally through the quills of the feathers, said quills having rst been flattened by crushing and bent alternately upwardly and downwardly at longitudinally spaced points with the stitches entering and leaving the attened quills through their edges.

EVELYNv HULVEY. 

